Digital Commons @ George Fox University Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations 3-1-2015 People with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Heal with Story Donald M. Twist George Fox University, [email protected] This research is a product of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program at George Fox University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Twist, Donald M., "People with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Heal with Story" (2015). Doctor of Ministry. Paper 93. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/dmin/93 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Ministry by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY PEOPLE WITH POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER HEAL WITH STORY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GEORGE FOX EVANGELICAL SEMINARY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY DONALD M. TWIST PORTLAND, OREGON MARCH 2015 George Fox Evangelical Seminary George Fox University Portland, Oregon CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL ________________________________ DMin Dissertation ________________________________ This is to certify that the DMin Dissertation of Donald M. Twist has been approved by the Dissertation Committee on February 23, 2015 for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Leadership and Spiritual Formation. Dissertation Committee: Primary Advisor: Tricia Gates Brown, PhD Secondary Advisor: Laura Simmons, PhD Expert Advisor: Tricia Gates Brown, PhD Copyright © 2015 by Donald M. Twist All Rights Reserved. ii CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv SECTION ONE: THE PROBLEM ................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ................................................................................................... 2 Nature and Causes of PTSD ........................................................................................................ 4 Symptoms of PTSD ..................................................................................................................... 8 Academic Viewpoint ................................................................................................................. 10 Ministry Viewpoint ................................................................................................................... 15 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 18 SECTION TWO: OTHER PROPOSED SOLUTIONS .............................................................. 21 Approaches to Treatment .......................................................................................................... 21 Effectiveness of Treatments ...................................................................................................... 32 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 38 SECTION THREE: THESIS ....................................................................................................... 40 Community ................................................................................................................................ 40 Technology ................................................................................................................................ 42 The Church ................................................................................................................................ 52 Storytelling: A New Approach to PTSD ................................................................................... 63 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 73 SECTION FOUR: TRACK 02 ARTIFACT DESCRIPTION ...................................................... 75 SECTION FIVE: TRACK 02 ARTIFACT SPECIFICATION .................................................. 138 Cover Letter to a Book Editor ................................................................................................. 140 Book Proposal ......................................................................................................................... 141 Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... 143 SECTION SIX: POSTSCRIPT ................................................................................................... 144 APPENDIX 1: DSM-5: PTSD Criteria ...................................................................................... 147 APPENDIX 2: Twenty-Five Largest U.S.A. churches ............................................................... 150 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 152 iii ABSTRACT This dissertation claims there is a growing inability within American culture, due to continuous technological connectedness and lack of physical community, to move beyond treating the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to actually healing it. I assert that by reestablishing community through storytelling, sufferers can experience deeper healing. Section One defines the nature of PTSD and its symptoms, while incorporating various academic and ministry-related viewpoints. Section Two delineates what has been done to treat PTSD and why simply treating symptoms is not enough. Section Three is the heart of this dissertation and discusses how our current communities and technology cause a disadvantage for the PTSD sufferer, and why I believe storytelling is vital for healing. Section Four is a description of my Track 02 Artifact, a non-fiction book telling my own PTSD story and how telling my story has brought deeper healing to my family and me. Section Five is my Track 02 Artifact specification, a book proposal, and Section Six is a postscript regarding further areas of exploration in the work of storytelling as healing. iv SECTION ONE: THE PROBLEM Introduction As I sat in the reception room in the early morning, waiting for my scheduled appointment to see the Base Psychiatrist, all I felt was tired and numb from the events of the past twenty-four hours. It was only yesterday that I had been onboard a U.S. Navy destroyer as an officer of its crew. Something, as yet undefinable, had happened to me out on the water that forced me to leave the ship and take the first flight from San Diego back to the Pacific Northwest, where now I waited for my turn to see the doctor. Confused as I was, I wondered what this would mean for my family and me. I felt like a dog in a corner, ready to fight and even die for those he loves, but I didn’t know why I felt that way or what was happening. As I sat there I tried to piece together what had happened. I know that when I was on the destroyer, in my rack trying to sleep, I kept seeing water coming onto the ship. I was drowning. I could not only see the water, but also hear it as it went over my head. Although I knew I was not actually in this situation, every time I closed my eyes my body kept thinking it was drowning, with water all around me. I couldn’t breathe and certainly couldn’t sleep in my panicked state. In my military job as a Navy Chaplain I had worked with enough injured people to know I was no longer fit for duty. I needed to let someone in authority know that I should be relieved from service. I ended up waking my already sleep-deprived Executive Officer (XO) to tell him of my current condition, and he in turn notified the Commanding Officer (CO) of the ship. Most importantly, the CO’s boss, the Commodore, was made aware of my condition. All I could do was await further instruction from my superior officers. As an officer in the USN, a gentleman, and a man 1 2 of God, I needed to be honest about my current state. I didn’t know what the repercussions of my extreme panic attack would be, but I wasn’t any use to anyone as I was. I also knew that if my condition worsened, I could become a detriment to the ship’s mission and its crew. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder There is nothing new about the presence of PTSD. As long as war, crisis, or trauma have existed, people have lived with the full brunt of the effects of experiencing horrific events.1 In Deuteronomy 20:1-9 there is evidence of military leaders understanding that soldiers need to occasionally be removed from battle due to complaints of nervousness, lest it become contagious: “When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than thou. .the officers shall say, what man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.”2 Classic literature also alludes to what we now correlate with PTSD. In the eighth century BCE, for example, Homer’s Odyssey described a veteran of the Trojan Wars, who had flashbacks of battles won and lost and survivor’s guilt in the wake of losing so many